When I hit the really bad RSD flare, I never thought I would see the end of it, but, (holding my breath), it might, finally be over. I am actually waking up with pain levels of three or four. And I have only had one episode of nausea caused by the pain in the last week and a half. Controlling the pain actually does make a difference. My swelling is so far down, my foot almost looks like it did before the surgery, and I actually called to cancel a nerve block. When I have a bad spike, I take care of it, and things get better. I never thought I would experience a day where I felt like I was controlling the pain. There are still bad times, but not like they were for this first month of school.

In physical therapy, I'm making strength progress. I'd been given a band that's about two strength levels above the red, and just couldn't get there. Yesterday, they had a band available that's just one level up, and I can do it! This is wonderful. I have new exercises to do, and so far, no major issues with doing them. We're also trying this thing called TENS. It's a method of using electrical stimulation to block pain signals. We need my doctor to sign an order so I can take a unit home, but during PT, it's really helped with keeping the pain down. I'm extremely happy about this, and I hope I can get the unit, so I can use it at home. The idea is that if I have a spike in pain, I can use the TENS to try to get it down. Maybe it will work.

I am working on some other writing, not focused on the four letter F word (foot), but have been incredibly busy this week. Enjoy the day!

Comments

congrats on doing so well. :) I got a TENS unit a month or so ago, and I'm a little surprised your PT didn't try one sooner. Anyway, mine was a tremendous help, and I liked being able to use it at home. I actually haven't used mine in about 2 1/2 weeks now, but it's wonderful for pain management-- even if it doesn't completely ease away the pain, it's still a good distraction.